


this old coffee shop I love so much

by vapiddilettante



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Crushes, F/F, Fluff, Lesbians, One Shot, Pining, cosy lesbians, gays being corny, girls who like girls, its pretty surface level gay fluff, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 16:27:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15343833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vapiddilettante/pseuds/vapiddilettante
Summary: Eve has a crush on a customer named Marie. It takes puns, awkward banter, and her friend Emily to insert herself for them to get together.





	this old coffee shop I love so much

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted anything on here in a while, but lately I've had some time to write and so this was born. 
> 
> Cheesy gay one shots are truly the best chicken soup for the soul I know. I aspire to be the gay community's Nicholas Sparks. 
> 
> If you have any prompts or requests, comment them here or send me an ask on tumblr.
> 
> tumblr: vapiddilettante  
> instagram: vapidvague
> 
> say hi :)

It was so, so corny.

For the last three weeks or so, a girl named Marie visited the coffeeshop nearly every shift Eve worked. Marie was a strawberry blonde with green eyes and freckles, she always had a new book tucked under her arm, and she set miniature forest fires in Eve’s chest whenever she laughed.

Falling in love with a girl you meet in a coffeeshop is so cliché. Even Nicholas Sparks would think Eve’s pining was trite. Yet, she stood behind the counter stealing glances at Marie in between customers’ orders, and slowly but surely developing a pesky little crush.

Funnily enough the two had a class together the year before. Admittedly, Eve didn’t attend that class regularly enough to have caught Marie’s attention, but she certainly remembered Marie.

The longest interaction between the two girls lasted a maximum of two minutes, and Eve had no reason to believe that Marie was at all into girls, but she could swear she catches those green eyes staring at her before darting away at least twice.

“You are pathetic. Really and truly pathetic.” Emily says from the other side of the bar.

Emily, Eve’s best friend since first year, patiently watched this all play out over the last few weeks. Now, she was obviously rather bored of the the unrequited pining and just wanted Eve to make a move.

“First of all, keep your voice down. If she heard you, I would die of embarrassment. Second, please be happy for me. This is the first crush I’ve had on a girl I didn’t meet on the internet and lives a million miles away in eight months.” Eve retorted, filling her friend’s coffee cup.

Her last love interest was a girl named Rachel who she met in the comments of website about lesbian literature. They messaged, wrote letters, and even spoke on the phone back and forth for months. Without even meeting, Eve was positively smitten. Then one day, Rachel stopped replying. Within a week, she wrote a letter saying she was getting engaged to a man.

That one stung, Eve will unabashedly admit.

“Believe me, I am, but I would be even happier—overjoyed, in fact— if she became your first not online girlfriend in eight months. To do that, one of you will have to make a move. Judging by the way she can’t sustain eye contact with you without blushing, that will have to be you.”

“God, though, I’m so bad at chatting girls up. Remember when we went to the bar and I wrote down pick-up lines on a napkin so I’d always have something to say?”

“That was pretty funny. But come on, you don’t need to chat her up. Just get her to say something else to you besides her order and you’ll be set.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

So, so corny.

***

Another Friday closing shift, another chance to stare at Marie from a distance.

Eve really did take what Emily had to say to heart, and she knows she’s right, but she can’t quite work up the courage to approach Marie. Every time she almost convinces herself to, her limbs start to tingle and her stomach flips.

The door opens and the woman of the hour makes her entrance. Woman of the day. Woman of the year, probably.

“Hi, can I get a medium latte with cinnamon on top please? And a slice of the apple pie?”

“Makes sense.”

“Pardon?”

“Cause you’re a cutie pie.” Eve blurts out before she can think better. A smile creeps onto Marie’s face, plain as day even when bites her bottom lip to control it.

“You’re, um, you’re not so bad yourself.”

“Thanks, uh, um. Your total is $2.75.”

“That’s just the latte, isn’t the pie another $3?” Marie asks.

“On the house! You’re here so much—“ Eve starts, interrupted by a shatter. On the floor are shards of glass and pools of spilled coffee.

Just her luck. What sin did she commit in a past life that would cause the universe to conspire so rigidly against her? What god did she offend? “I should get that.”

“Yeah, I, uh. Yeah.” Marie stutters. It looks like she wants to say more, keep talking to Eve, but she sits down. Eve cleans the glass and serves a few more customers. The next moment she has free, she looks up and realizes Marie is on her way out.

“Bye!” Eve says, entirely too enthusiastically. She’s self-aware enough to realize she’s coming on a little too strong, a little too quickly; however, she lacks the self control to stop.

Especially when Marie turns around, another thousand watt smile on her face, and replies with a much quieter goodbye of her own.

***

Predictably, Emily is ecstatic to hear the new developments, but justifiably cringes at the awkwardness. Eve would be sheepish, but instead her mind is preoccupied by how it felt to make Marie smile. It was like she was glowing from the inside out. Her roommate commented on it, her teaching assistant rolled her eyes admiringly, and her coworkers made fake gagging noises.

More than anything, she wanted to get to know Marie. When she made herself breakfast, Eve wondered what Marie was having. If she has a favourite breakfast to wake up to on her birthday. What day her birthday is. If she prefers her birthday to Christmas. What her favourite Christmas movie is. Does she even celebrate Christmas?

This girl she’s known for no more than a month has multitudes behind her that Eve can only hope to discover. If only she could get the ball rolling.

“What we need to do is think of some more café-related pick up lines, if she was so endeared by your ‘cutie pie’ pun.” Emily says, stirring an ungodly amount of sugar into her coffee.

“I wouldn’t strictly say endeared, more like taken by surprise. Besides, I honestly don’t think she’s into me. Wouldn’t she have stayed after I helped those customers to talk to me if she was?”

“She’s probably just shy. I have an idea! I’ll talk to her for you! That way, I can get to know what she’s into, and I’ll casually mention you and see if it sparks…an interest.” Emily seems awfully excited by the possibility of a scheme.

“Subtlety isn’t exactly your strong suit, Em. I’m sure she’ll know what’s going on, she’s seen you with me enough.”

“No! I’ll be cool. Casual. Nonchalant. I’ll ask her for the time or something. Super chill.”

Eve really, really doesn’t want to say yes, but what does she have to lose? If she can’t get Marie to open up enough to gauge her feelings, she might as well unleash Emily.

“Fine.”

***

It’s not that Eve didn’t know Marie would come to the café during that shift, her brain just didn’t remind her of that fact. She really though there would be a bigger turnaround from Emily’s scheming to the actual scheme for some reason. So now, as Marie approaches the counter, and Emily’s eyes flicker with excitement, an uneasiness settles low into Eve’s stomach.

“Hey,” Marie says, soft as ever.

“Hey back. What are you drinking today.”

“Today I’ll have a medium chai tea latte, please and thank you.”

“Of course.” Eve says, and turns around to make the drink.

“Marie, is it?” Emily says, feigning casualty. Simply exuding nonchalance.

“Yeah,”

“I think you and I have a class together. Renaissance history with Johnson on Tuesdays at 4?”

“I thought I recognized you from somewhere! She’s great. I had her for Introduction to European History last year.”

“Say, Eve? Didn’t you have Johnson for Introduction to European History last year, if I remember correctly?”

Emily was so chill. The chillest. She should teach a class in being chill. She was so chill the temperature dropped ten degrees whenever she walks in the room.

“I did, second term. We were in the same class.”

“I know! You looked familiar too. Anyways, I actually have to run to class. Good meeting you guys, you’re such a great pair.” and with Emily and Eve’s goodbyes, walked out of the door, strawberry blonde hair blowing in the wind.

But. Wait.

“Pair? Like pair of friends?” Eve inquires, unsettled.

“Oh my God! She thinks we’re dating! Pair as in couple!” Marie exclaims, equally disturbed.

“That’s why she’s so shy! She doesn’t know I’m single!”

This is a disaster. She’s missed her chance with maybe the prettiest girl in the world because Emily has nothing better to do between classes than sit at the bar and bother Eve. Now, she’ll have to settle into life as a lesbian cat lady in a studio apartment where she will ultimately die, surrounded by her cats.

“Well, then we’ll let her know.”

Oh good, another scheme.

***

Eve is at home, cooking herself dinner. As she waltzes around her kitchen, swaying to love songs from the speaker, she lets her mind drift to Marie. Having a crush again feels so, so good. Her heart is aching from being full after so much emptiness for so long. She has somebody to think about when she closes her eyes to fall asleep or when she reads books about falling in love.

Allowing herself to fall even though her mind is screaming at her to stop goes against all precedent. But then, Marie isn’t like other girls she’s fallen for. No other girl has made Eve as love-stupid as she is. She says a silent prayer to whoever is listening that her crush on Marie works out. Her heart can’t handle any more breaking.

***

As always, Emily has claimed a seat at the bar and is drinking her coffee faster than Eve can pour it. Eve isn’t sure how exactly Emily plans to let Marie know they aren’t a couple, but she cringes as she runs through the possibilities.

Marie walks in, pretty as ever in a green sweater, and approaches the till.

“Hey, guys.” she says.

“Marie! I was just telling Eve about the date I went on last night. It was brutal.”. Emily didn’t miss the mark of subtlety so much as bypass it entirely.

“Oh, that sucks. I don’t know why, I kind of though you two were a thing?” Marie falls right into Emily’s trap.

“Us? Ew. Never. I love Eve, but as a sister, or favourite cousin. Not as a girlfriend. But she’d be a great girlfriend! Just not to me. Because we’re friends.”

Eve is so uncomfortable she’s having an out of body experience. Her body may physically be in the café, but she’s astral projected to a beach in Hawaii right now.

“Yeah, we’re not together.” Eve adds, mostly to shut Emily up.

“Oh, I guess it was kind of presumptuous. I don’t even know if either of you are into girls.” Marie says bashfully. Now it’s Eve’s turn to talk without thinking.

“No, I’m gay! Totally gay. Just not for Emily.”

“Cool.”

“Cool?”

“Well what do I say? Congratulations?” Marie teases.

“Yes.” she deadpans, making Marie blushes (adorable). “And, I don’t know, whether you are?”

“Congratulations, to both of us.”

The door opens again and a gaggle of frat boys walk in. Eve has never particularly liked frat boys, but now she could kill them. How dare they interrupt the longest conversation she has ever had will the love of her life? It was homophobic, frankly, and she intends to file an incident report with the university.

“I’ll be in the armchairs over there. If you have a second, come over and we can congratulate each other some more,” Marie says, picking up her drink and leaving.

Before the frat boys reach the counter, Emily quickly whispers, “That was so cheesy I’m going to explode.” Which, fair.

The frat boys come and go in a cloud of axe body spray and banter. She looks up at Marie, who’s already smiling at her.

“Be yourself and have fun!” Emily encourages.

“Helpful.”

The walk to the armchair adjacent Marie is fifteen feet total yet manages to feel lightyears away. Eve briefly considers making a run for it, nerves overwhelming her, and then Marie says, “saved you a seat,” with a wink and the world rights itself.

“So, I was thinking we should throw a party.” Marie begins.

“A party?”

“To celebrate that we’re both gay, obviously.” she rolls her eyes jokingly.

“Obviously. What if we didn’t invite anybody else to that party?”

“That would be fine. Parties are still parties even if there are only two guests. Where and when should we have this party? And what would it entail?” Marie inquires, biting her lip to hide the smile taking over her face.

“We can have it at my place, Friday night if you’re free. I’ll cook dinner and we can have cake after.”

“Cake?”

“Well it wouldn’t be a party without cake, would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t. Okay, we can have our party on Friday night. Let’s trade numbers to figure out the details.”

They exchange numbers on the café napkins. Marie left for class a few minutes after, and Eve returns to the counter. Apparently the world continues regardless of the fact that Eve has finally set up a date with the love of her life (also very homophobic).

Of course, Emily is just about bouncing out of her seat when Eve reaches her spot at the till. There’s a chance she’s more excited for this date than either Eve or Marie. As Emily prattles on and on about deserving to be the maid of honour at their future wedding, Eve considers for a moment how wonderful romance feels.

***

Falling in love at a coffeeshop was corny, but the date Eve has planned for tonight is downright saccharine. She leaned into the ‘party’ joke perhaps a little too much, having decorated with a rainbow balloons and streamers. There’s also a cake in the fridge on which she wrote “we both like girls” in red frosting.

Marie arrives at six o’clock, and they eat dinner at seven. It amazes Eve how quickly they fall into conversation. They have different interests, and different opinions, but they connect beyond their favourite music and television shows. After rummaging through her baking pantry, Eve comes up with a single birthday candle. The two girls blow it out and silently make their own wishes. _I wish this lasts a while_ , thinks Eve.

If she were betting, she’d put her money on Marie having a similar wish.


End file.
